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Allegiant Air will bring its ultra-low-cost service to Memphis International Airport beginning May 22 with nonstop flights to Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and its hometown of Las Vegas, the company announced Wednesday.

Memphis International Airport should have a new team of storytellers on board.

The Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority board voted Thursday, Sept. 18, to engage Memphis-based RedRover Co. LLC to help craft a multi-platform communications and image campaign for Memphis International, which is transitioning from a Delta Airlines hub to an origin-and-destination airport.

Frontier Airlines and Southwest Airlines are increasing service at Memphis International Airport, providing more service for local flyers and boosting the facility’s transition away from a high-priced hub airport.

An ambitious effort to reconfigure Memphis International Airport for the future will get underway this fall, when demolition of portions of two concourses begins and a single concessions vendor takes control.

Memphis International Airport, gutted by the downsizing of Delta Air Lines, is pursuing a $114 million “concourse modernization” plan that will eliminate a large number of gates and result in upgrades to what is left.

Longtime Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority President and CEO Larry Cox celebrated his final board meeting before retirement with the announcement that Southwest Airlines is adding a flight next summer.

When John W. Moore took the reins of the Greater Memphis Chamber in 2005, the organization was at the end of its latest economic development campaign and financial resources were strained.

“We were in incredible financial distress when I took over,” Moore said. “We weren’t even going to make the next payroll and it was really scary, but the chamber now is on great financial footing thanks to the hard work of a great team.”

Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority officials remain optimistic about the future of Memphis International Airport, thanks to increased airline competition that is driving down airfares for travelers and businesses.

It may be the first time that a Shelby County Commissioner has given public notice of a barbecue.

Commissioner Steve Basar has held four at his house in the year that he’s been on the elected body. And he told political supporters at a fundraiser last week that he has “sunshined” all of them, a shorthand term to describe the public notice required by Tennessee’s open meetings law – or Sunshine Law – for any deliberative gathering of two or more commissioners.

Five years after Frontier Airlines’ rapid exit from Memphis International Airport, Frontier executives announced Wednesday, Oct. 9, the discount air carrier will return to town with four weekly nonstop flights between Memphis and Denver starting March 7.

Five years after Frontier Airlines’ rapid exit from Memphis International Airport, Frontier executives announced Wednesday, Oct. 9, the discount air carrier will return to town with four weekly nonstop flights between Memphis and Denver starting March 7.

Though the jump Brian Yoakum made at the beginning of August from The Biller Law Firm to Evans Petree PC was only a floor away, he saw a greater opportunity to broaden his practice areas and expand the services he could offer clients.

A never-before-used economic incentive program designed to lure new air service to Memphis International Airport may have its first customer.

Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority officials moved swiftly to approve a measure that will bolster financial incentives offered to commercial airlines offering flights at least four days a week to new cities not served today by the airlines.

Soon, passengers at Memphis International Airport will be able to surf the Web for free as they wait for flights.

The Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority awarded a contract to Los Angeles-based Boingo Wireless to provide Wi-Fi coverage throughout the airport, including the terminals, baggage claim areas and rental car customer service area in the ground transportation center.

The city of Germantown will host The Millionaires as part of its Groovin’ and Chillin’ Concert Series Tuesday, June 18, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Kiwanis pavilion at Municipal Park on Exeter Road. The free concert starts at 7 p.m.; hot dog and hamburger combos will be available for purchase beforehand. Visit germantown-tn.gov.

The Rebel on Beale summer country music concert series will kick off with Emerson Drive Thursday, June 20, at 7:30 p.m. in W.C. Handy Park at Beale and South Third streets. Cost is free. Visit rebel953.com.

Memphis is losing its status as a passenger hub for Delta Air Lines. Delta executives announced Tuesday, June 4, the Atlanta-based airline will cut service to Memphis International Airport to approximately 60 daily flights starting in September, down from 92.

The Black Business Association of Memphis will meet Thursday, May 23, at 8 a.m. at the Renaissance Business Center, 555 Beale St. Jack Sammons, chairman of the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority, will discuss what new developments at the airport mean for small businesses. R.S.V.P. to myron@whatshappeningmyron.com.

In-Synk and The Daily News will host a Leadership Lunch & Learn about Nate Silver’s book “The Signal and The Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail – But Some Don’t” Friday, May 3, from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Triumph Bank board room, 5699 Poplar Ave. Cost is $20. Register at lnlsignalnoise-rss.eventbrite.com.

The Association of Fundraising Professionals Memphis chapter will meet Thursday, May 2, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Ballet Memphis, 7950 Trinity Road. Dorothy Gunther Pugh, founding artistic director and executive director of Ballet Memphis, will discuss relationship building and leadership. Cost is $15 for members and $25 for nonmembers. Register at afpmemphis.org.

Kiwanis Club of Memphis will meet Wednesday, May 1, from noon to 1 p.m. at The University Club of Memphis, 1346 Central Ave. Dave Keigan, director of Camp Phoenix, will speak. Cost is $18 for nonmembers.

While he’s well aware of the hurdles, Jack Sammons told the members of the Memphis World Trade Club he’s determined to “relentlessly” solicit new air service providers to fly in and out of Memphis International Airport.

The chairman of the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority board got a view of just how devastating passenger air service cuts by Delta Air Lines have been to the airport this past Easter as his Delta flight landed in Memphis.

Memphis Area Association of Realtors and Shelby County Trustee David Lenoir will host the 2013 Residential Real Estate Summit Tuesday, April 2, from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Germantown Performing Arts Centre, 1801 Exeter Road. Lawrence Yun, National Association of Realtors chief economist, will discuss the current state of the local and national real estate market. Cost is free. Visit maar.org/residentialsummit to register.

University of Memphis Habitat for Humanity Campus Chapter and Students Advocating Service will kick off Act! Speak! Build! Week Monday, April 1, at 10 a.m. in the University Center Bluff Room, 499 University St. Guests include Sen. Reginald Tate and Jessica Hord of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Memphis. Cost is free. Visit memphishabitat.com.

Jack Sammons, the new chairman of the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority board, is no stranger to the flight from Memphis to Atlanta. Sammons long has been the board’s frequent flyer when it comes to business travel.

Shelby County Criminal Court Judge W. Otis Higgs, whose two bids to become Memphis Mayor in the 1970s were important chapters in the city’s political and racial history, died Friday, Feb. 15, at the age of 75.

AirTran Airways, a subsidiary of Southwest Airlines, announced Monday, Feb. 4, that it is adding four new Memphis flights to three new AirTran routes. And Memphis International Airport officials said they were told by Southwest executives last week that all AirTran flights in Memphis probably will be converted to the Southwest brand by November.

IT’S NOT BUSINESS ANYMORE. IT’S PERSONAL. This is our town, and you’re not welcome here.

So pack a plane with all your meaningless spin, all your lackeys and suck-ups, all your apologists, all your legal but unethical tactics, all your eye popping price gouging, all your cold and calculated manipulation of lives, your own employees’ lives, and a city’s pride and get the hell out. There’s so much of all of that in the massive fuel dump you just dropped on Memphis that I’m sure it’ll take more than one plane to haul it all off and we may never be rid of the stench it’s leaving behind.

Despite struggling through a 2012 of decreased air service and sky-high airfares, officials at Memphis International Airport continue to work hard to improve the facilities and make it a more comfortable and enjoyable place for travelers.

Despite struggling through a 2012 of decreased air service and sky-high airfares, officials at Memphis International Airport continue to work hard to improve the facilities and make it a more comfortable and enjoyable place for travelers.

When U.S. Airways opens its three daily nonstop flights to Reagan National Airport in Washington out of Memphis in about a week, Memphis International Airport officials will celebrate.

And they will emphasize to passengers that the service along with Delta Air Lines Inc.’s existing Washington service now means someone from Memphis traveling to the nation’s capital can have a full day scheduled there and still be able to make it back to Memphis by the end of the day.

The Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority re-elected its chairman and awarded two contracts Thursday, Nov. 17, at its monthly board of commissioners meeting.

Arnold Perl was unanimously voted by his peers for a five-year term as head of the MSCAA board, effective Jan. 1. The nominating committee included board vice chairman Jim Keras and commissioners Herb Hilliard, John Stokes, Jack Sammons, Ruby Wharton and Jon Thompson.

The Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority re-elected its chairman and awarded two contracts Thursday, Nov. 17, at its monthly board of commissioners meeting.

Arnold Perl was unanimously voted by his peers for a five-year term as head of the MSCAA board, effective Jan. 1. The nominating committee included board vice chairman Jim Keras and commissioners Herb Hilliard, John Stokes, Jack Sammons, Ruby Wharton and Jon Thompson.

As the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority began paying the first of the bills for protecting General DeWitt Spain Airport from flooding, several members of the airport board asked this week whether they should continue to operate the Frayser general aviation airport.

The emergence of the Broad Avenue Arts District as a hub of arts, culture and community continues to take shape, and the latest focal point is a former abandoned gas station at Broad and Tillman Street.

The Memphis City Council today is scheduled to approve Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr.’s appointment of outgoing Tennessee corrections commissioner George Little to be his new chief administrative officer.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. appears set to announce his appointment of a chief administrative officer as early as today, with Tennessee Department of Corrections Commissioner George Little as Wharton’s choice.

Speculation originally centered on Shelby County Commissioner Mike Carpenter as Wharton’s pick to replace former Memphis City Councilman and current CAO Jack Sammons. But Carpenter told The Daily News this week he will not be Wharton’s choice for the role, and he declined to elaborate.

Gov. Phil Bredesen appointed Little as corrections commissioner in September 2005. Before that, Little had served as director of Shelby County’s corrections division.

Wharton is expected to announce his choice by the end of the week. Other personnel decisions also may be announced by week’s end, sources say.

Wharton’s choice for CAO will be one of his most closely watched early decisions as the city’s new mayor. The CAO runs city government on a day-to-day basis and is usually the mayor’s link with City Council members.

The CAO also works closely with city division directors on a daily basis.

The votes for an interim Shelby County mayor haven’t been along party or racial lines, but there’s still time. Shelby County Commissioners will try again today to appoint someone to the county’s top job.

Just before sunrise on a rainy Tuesday morning, the armed officers raided the city office. They didn’t make any arrests, but they took files, interviewed employees and served search warrants. And they temporarily closed the Memphis Animal Shelter.

Disgusted with what in hindsight appears to have been widespread mistreatment of animals at the Memphis Animal Shelter, a shelter employee turned to an out-of-town specialist for help.

In September, the employee asked an expert from Florida who regularly is consulted in animal abuse cases to examine three dogs that had died at the shelter. That set in motion a chain of events leading to last week’s temporary closure of the facility, which was raided and battened down by sheriff’s deputies investigating the employee’s allegations of animal abuse and cruelty.

Memphis Mayor-elect A C Wharton Jr. will be appointing a new city attorney once he takes office next week.

Elbert Jefferson, the city attorney Mayor Pro Tem Myron Lowery tried to fire just minutes after taking the oath of office on July 31, Friday sent a second resignation letter to Lowery. The two met for an hour Sunday evening at City Hall and Lowery accepted Jefferson’s resignation.

Jefferson’s attorney, Ted Hansom, and city Chief Administrative Officer Jack Sammons were also present. Jefferson turned in his key card, the keys to his city car and his laptop.

“The drama is over,” Lowery said Monday. “For my part, I wish it had never happened.”

Dramatis personae

In a resignation letter last week to Wharton, Jefferson had expressed hope that he would be hired for some position in the new administration. Over the weekend, he used the same text in the new letter but addressed it to Lowery instead. He requested the city pay his legal fees as well.

The resignation letter to Lowery made moot an ouster suit filed by Shelby County District Attorney General Bill Gibbons. Criminal Court Judge James Lammey, who was to hear the case, reset a final report to Oct. 27, citing Jefferson’s departure.

“A hearing on the issue of suspension would be an inefficient use of judicial resources, of the state of Tennessee and of the resources of the city of Memphis, and considering (Jefferson’s) current health status, would be an unnecessary tax on (Jefferson’s) well-being and a possible threat to his health,” Lammey wrote in the court order.

Jefferson was scheduled to return to City Hall from sick leave Monday. He apparently believed the new mayor would be in office by the time he returned.

An audit of city financial affairs is standard procedure in a change of administrations. Wharton is naming team members to review the offices of the city attorney, human resources and finance and administration. He was also to name members of his transition team Monday.

Time-, battle-tested

Shelby County Commissioner Mike Carpenter and Methodist Healthcare executive Cato Johnson will head the team.

Johnson has more experience serving on such task forces and ad hoc committees than any other leader in the city’s corporate community. Most recently, Johnson was one of two business leaders on the ad hoc committee exploring single-source local funding for education. He also served as a leader of the Mid-South Fairgrounds renovation committee and has been involved in similar capacities with every major construction project for a civic use in the past 15 years.

Carpenter’s appointment is certain to fuel speculation that he might be tapped for some role in the new administration. However, Carpenter has already been holding fundraisers in anticipation of a bid for re-election to his commission seat in the 2010 county elections.

Wharton is tentatively scheduled to take the oath of office Oct. 26.

The Shelby County Commission also meets that same day and could receive Wharton’s resignation and declare a vacancy in the county mayor’s office with a vote to appoint Wharton’s successor-to-come in November. Until that vote, County Commission Chairwoman Joyce Avery will serve as interim mayor.

“It will be a day in which I come to work at one place and leave work from another place,” Wharton told The Daily News.

But the Shelby County Election Commission will meet earlier than expected -- Thursday afternoon -- to certify the Oct. 15 election results. Once the results are certified, Wharton is free to resign as Shelby County mayor and take the oath as Memphis mayor.

Cooperative efforts

Meanwhile, Wharton has asked City Council Chairman Harold Collins to consider delaying a council vote today on the five appointees the city mayor is to make to a metro charter commission. The council set today’s vote with the intention of having whomever won the Oct. 15 special election appoint members of the panel.

“I won’t be there on the 20th. … I’m seeing if they are in a position to put it off until I’m actually over there,” Wharton told The Daily News, as he has had attorneys researching if a council vote in November would meet timelines for such an effort set out in state law.

“I believe that they may be able to meet on Nov. 3,” Wharton said.

Wharton has already named the 10 appointees to be made by the Shelby County mayor to the panel. The County Commission approved all 10 earlier this month.

While it appears he will make the other five, Wharton said he will ask the council, through Collins, to effectively pick the five nominees, whom Wharton would then send to the council as his appointees.

“I chose all 10 over here, which I had to do by law. If I could find some way around it that passed legal muster, then I would do that,” he said. “But we’ve researched it and I know of no way in which the city mayor can say … ‘I’m not going to do that.’ You can’t transfer it.”

Wharton and Lowery were to discuss the matter at a meeting Monday afternoon. Lowery told The Daily News he had received no suggested appointees from council members, but would be willing to submit names the council wants on the charter commission.

The city of Memphis is re-examining its relationship with the giant Dallas-based outsourcing firm that has been the city’s technology partner for several years.

Affiliated Computer Services Inc. for almost a decade has been the city’s information technology vendor, a job that, among other things, has made the company responsible for managing the city’s data processing and telecommunication services.

Jefferson and Lowery had been scheduled to meet Tuesday, but the embattled city attorney called in sick. He also called in sick Wednesday and indicated he would be out for the rest of this week.

Jefferson’s fate appears to be in question after last week’s revelation that he authorized a more than $55,000 payment to the lawyer of former Mayor Willie Herenton shortly before Herenton retired at the end of July. At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Lowery declined to say what he planned to talk about with Jefferson.

Jefferson’s future is also likely to be a hot topic at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

Councilman Bill Morrison appears set to introduce a resolution authorizing Lowery to immediately remove Jefferson from office. The draft language of the resolution cites Jefferson’s “approval of a rushed payment of city funds” to Herenton’s attorney “in a private matter” and Jefferson’s failure to notify Lowery and Lowery’s chief administrative officer, Jack Sammons.

The resolution reads, in part:

“Whereas, recent revelations that the current city attorney and chief ethics officer Elbert Jefferson is being investigated by federal authorities about his approval of a rushed payment of $55,000 of city funds to an attorney hired to represent Willie W. Herenton in a private matter; his failure to notify the mayor pro tem and CAO that he had been questioned by the FBI about such actions; and his failure to notify his superiors, Mayor Pro Tem and CAO, that records involving the aforementioned payment were recently subpoenaed by the grand jury, cause great concern about the city attorney’s abilities and judgment.

“Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Memphis City Council urges Mayor Pro Tem Lowery to immediately remove Elbert Jefferson from the Office of City Attorney based on these questionable practices.”

In an interview with The Daily News Tuesday night, Herenton took issue with the description of the payment to Robert Spence as “rushed.”

The word "RUSH" is stamped on a check request Jefferson approved for Spence's payment. But Herenton said many of the contracts he left unsigned or requests unauthorized were rushed by various city division directors.

“In my 17 years, I bet you I've signed hundreds of rushed (requests). But in the newspaper it became 'Herenton's trying to get his legal fees paid,'” Herenton said.

Jefferson was the last of four city attorneys Herenton worked with in his more than 17 years as mayor. Herenton praised Jefferson’s work and said he has become a victim of “ruthless, reckless politics.”

“I have nothing but respect for Elbert,” Herenton said. “It is unfortunate that he finds himself caught up in the political arena, where Mayor Pro Tem Lowery is exercising some vindictiveness.”

Spence’s work involved representing the former mayor during an investigation whose subject appeared to wander over the past year.

It included Herenton's one-time option to buy the land where the Greyhound bus terminal now stands on Union Avenue. Some recent grand jury testimony focused on money paid to Herenton aide Pete Aviotti by business leaders for Herenton's annual Christmas party.

Spence told The Daily News earlier this week his client has not received a letter from prosecutors or any other type of notification that Herenton is the target of the investigation. Prosecutors sometimes make such a notification, but it is not required.

Jefferson, meanwhile, is not the only person who may be on the hot seat Tuesday before the City Council. Another resolution has been drafted that seeks to vacate Councilman Bill Boyd’s seat.

That resolution, sponsored by Councilman Joe Brown, reads:

“Whereas, it has been reported that council member William Boyd has attempted to intervene in a lawsuit challenging the authority of the mayor of Memphis and the city attorney to settle a lawsuit; and whereas the charter prohibits any council member interfering with the mayor’s administrative powers; and whereas the charter provides that any council member that interferes with the mayor’s administrative powers may be removed from office.

“Now, therefore, be it resolved that the position held by William Boyd, councilman, District 2, be declared vacant for violating the city charter or, alternatively, that the city take such court action necessary to have him removed from office.”<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->

Boyd has filed a motion to intervene in a bitter court fight involving a legal settlement between the city and former Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division chief Joseph Lee. In a motion to dismiss the complaint Boyd wants to be part of, Jefferson said the city was appropriately exercising its authority in settling the suit Lee filed.

Boyd disagrees and thinks the more than $426,000 paid to Lee should be recovered by the city.

“The plain language of the charter gives the mayor and city attorney exclusive power and authority to settle lawsuits if the city is a party to such suits,” Jefferson’s motion reads. “This power is not subject to approval of the Memphis City Council or the public.”

Without mentioning Boyd’s request to intervene in the case, Jefferson’s motion to dismiss also cites a section of the city charter that prohibits council members from interfering with the operation of the city’s administrative departments.

The charter goes on to stipulate that the office of any council member found to be in violation of that part of the charter could be vacated.

The decision by Memphis Mayor Pro Tem Myron Lowery to replace Wilkins comes at a crucial time in the long-running case.

Special Chancellor Don Harris is about to unseal a report on the entertainment district that has already been partially leaked. The report from Philadelphia accounting firm Parente Randolph was being prepared for release late last week as Wilkins and Lowery began a testy e-mail exchange that ended with Lowery firing Wilkins earlier this week.

For the past year or so of former Mayor Willie Herenton’s tenure, the city, represented by Wilkins, was zealously pursuing an accounting of money from Beale Street since 2002.

Money pit

The money is supposed to flow from the nightclubs on Beale Street to management company Performa Entertainment to the Beale Street Development Corp. and finally to the city. The money hasn’t flowed to the city at all, even though the city owns the district. On that, all sides agree.

The BSDC is the nonprofit board that holds the lease from the city, and Performa has a contract to run, manage and develop Beale Street with the BSDC.

Performa CEO John Elkington contends the district wasn’t profitable for a long time after its dedication in late 1983. Elkington said he and Performa put their own money into it. Under his contract, Elkington said he can and should recoup the money when the district turns a profit.

Wilkins contended in court that Performa mingled the Beale Street money with Performa ventures in other cities. It’s an allegation Elkington has adamantly denied.

“That’s nowhere in the report,” Elkington said in his only positive reference to the Parente Randolph findings.

Advocacy wars

The report by Paul Pocalyko, a principal of the accounting and consulting firm, concluded Performa owed the city of Memphis more than $6 million in profits from the district.

Press reports of Pocalyko’s multimillion-dollar bottom line had the political effect of stalling plans by Lowery to settle the lawsuit and fire City Attorney Elbert Jefferson.

“My overall goal is to save the taxpayers money,” Lowery said this week, denying that he is trying to “squash” the accounting of profits from the district. “If this case can be settled, I want it settled. If it must go to court, then it will go to court. But the overall goal is to improve the efficiency of this city.”

Elkington has been Beale Street’s developer since the district between Second and Fourth streets reopened 25 years ago.

But he said, in general, the report mistakenly counted revenue, to the tune of millions of dollars, as due the city.

“That document is not an audit. It’s an opinion,” Speer said. “We are disappointed that it wasn’t an audit because we think an audit would have a credibility that would have supported the conclusion we have that there’s not any money owed to the city.”

Earlier this week, Speer was awaiting his own full copy of the report and both sides were still arguing about what would be redacted from it.

“The conclusions and opinions in there are not supported by fact,” Speer said. “They are opinions that are designed to support the position taken by the city’s attorney.”

That included approximately $2 million merchants made from selling wristbands over the seven-year period starting in 2002. The wristband sales allow patrons to get in several clubs for one cover charge.

“That money never goes to us. That’s $2.1 million,” Elkington told The Daily News. “So a third of what they are alleging went to the merchants.”

Another $900,000 was disallowed because it was a credit some tenants were given on their rent after they made property improvements. But Performa claims it has a 1991 letter with then-city chief administrative officer Greg Duckett approving the credit arrangement.

“What they’re trying to do is rewrite the lease,” Elkington said. “We’ve always said, ‘If we owe some money, we’ll pay it.’ … Right now, this is stuff that is conjecture.”

‘Black hole’

Lowery has said one of his first actions on taking office was to direct city Chief Administrative Officer Jack Sammons to find a way to settle the Beale Street lawsuit.

A settlement had been one of three priorities – along with a Mid-South Fairgrounds redevelopment contract and an agreement for Bass Pro Shops to develop The Pyramid – Herenton had set for his final weeks in office but never achieved.

Lowery had the same goal for his tenure, which lasts until the special election on Oct. 15 if he doesn’t win the right to fill out Herenton’s term.

Lowery’s immediate concern was millions of dollars the city was paying outside attorneys to pursue litigation. That concern was why Lowery tried to fire Jefferson within minutes of taking the oath of office on July 31. He held Jefferson responsible for what he termed a “black hole” of legal expenses approved on Jefferson’s watch as city attorney.

Lowery mentioned prominently the $35,000 a month to Wilkins and his law firm for work on the Beale Street case.

The city of Memphis wants to see if it can save money by replacing the police officers who monitor the entrance to City Hall with contractors from a private firm.

The city administration through Monday will be taking bids from vendors to provide armed security guards who would be posted primarily in the lobby of City Hall. That’s where a small contingent of Memphis Police Department officers now greets the public, waves visitors through metal detectors, helps people navigate the building and answers general questions.

The administration of Memphis Mayor Pro Tem Myron Lowery is still dealing with agreements made during the tenure of former Mayor Willie Herenton. One of those involves a car lease for the Cadillac Escalade SUV that had been Herenton’s official transportation.

With back-to-school supplies to hand out and a new crop of brightly colored campaign signs, the October special election race for Memphis mayor and several other races on the 2010 ballot came alive this past weekend.

On the Drake & Zeke Show on radio station 98.1 The Max, Lowery said until the council acts, Coleman-Davis, a former U.S. Attorney, will be deputy director. Her appointment to that position is immediate and does not require council approval.

Meanwhile, Jefferson's attorney, Ricky E. Wilkins, told The Daily News her confirmation Tuesday as City Attorney would have to come after a council vote to back Jefferson's firing.

"We will ask the court to continue to keep that injunction in place throughout the tenure of Myron Lowery as mayor pro tempore," Wilkins said. "If Myron is able to get the necessary votes to terminate Mr. Jefferson and to get the votes to replace him with a substitute city attorney ... then that's what the process calls for and I think Mr. Jefferson understands that. But Myron Lowery cannot ignore and violate the city charter to satisfy his own political means."

Jefferson was at City Hall over the weekend, escorted by City Council attorney Allan Wade, according to Lowery.

After taking the oath of office Friday afternoon from U.S. District Court Judge Hardy Mays, Lowery told reporters he had offered Jefferson a severance and a chance to resign the appointed post. Jefferson refused which apparently surprised Lowery since Jefferson had tendered his resignation to outgoing Mayor Willie Herenton earlier in the month and Herenton refused to accept it.

Lowery met with Jefferson in a City Hall stairwell after the swearing in ceremony. Lowery emerged without Jefferson and told reporters he had fired the attorney. Several sources said later that Jefferson was escorted from the building and his parking pass and other identification taken as he was walked to his car and out of City Hall.

Wilkins termed the forcible exit a "low blow" and a "fairly drastic action."

“The legal department has almost been a black hole for dollars,” Lowery said Friday, minutes after the stairwell meeting. “I think that we spend too much money on attorney fees. I think that our city attorney has allowed this to happen without adequate controls on this. And I’m looking for stronger controls in the city attorney’s office.”

In addition to Coleman-Davis, Lowery will also take the nomination of former council member Jack Sammons as his Chief Administrative Officer to the council Tuesday.

Herenton CAO Keith McGee had retired effective July 4. But when Herenton moved back his resignation date to July 30, McGee extended his stay on a voluntary basis. McGee is working with Lowery on a transitional basis. Lowery said he had hoped Jefferson would work under the same arrangement.

“He wanted to keep the title and the salary that comes with it. So I had to make a decision,” Lowery said. “I wish he had accepted it. … He’s forced me to take this action.”

Lowery said he wants Coleman Davis to examine past city legal bills and expenses.

“I have heard that several individuals have been hired … in the legal department to fill vacancies who were scheduled to start work Monday. I just found this out,” Lowery told reporters. “I want to make sure that we don’t have cronies of our former legal division director who have been hired.”

Those appointments will be examined.

“I don’t want any friends of the division director receiving dollars or any backroom deals outside the scope of the City Council. You know what I’m talking about,” he told reporters. “That is not going to occur under my administration.”

‘Hard work and enthusiasm’

As Lowery moved into the seventh floor mayor’s office Friday at City Hall, council member Harold Collins moved into the council chairman’s office on the fifth floor as part of the transition in power following Herenton’s resignation. Collins indicated his displeasure with the firing of Jefferson and said he wants Lowery and Jefferson to be at Tuesday's council committee sessions to tell their sides of the story.

“It’s a new day at City Hall,” Lowery told a crowd in the Hall of Mayors the day after Herenton’s farewell address in the same hall. Lowery’s guests at the ceremony were Herenton, former Mayor Dick Hackett and J.O. Patterson Jr., the city’s first African-American mayor who served in the top post for 20 days after the resignation of Mayor Wyeth Chandler in 1982. Patterson was City Council chairman at the time. Like Lowery, Patterson also ran in the special election that followed and lost to Hackett, who lost to Herenton nine years later by 142 votes.

“With new life, new individuals, comes hope and promise,” Lowery said. “As mayor, I will promote a moral philosophy of customer service – customer-driven government. … I’m here also to say that I’m going to promote ethical leadership in government.”

One priority will be a new crime fighting strategy, although Lowery was quick to say he likes the direction the police department and those efforts have taken under current Police Director Larry Godwin. The other immediate priority is a more aggressive city cleanup campaign.

Lowery didn’t refer to Herenton directly in any of his comments, but the contrasts were apparent.

“We will be energetic in city government – more productive There’s a phrase, ‘We need to be workhorses, not showhorses.’” Lowery said. “You will not get a lot of catchy phrases from me. But you will get a lot of hard work and enthusiasm.”

The remark came the day after Herenton’s farewell address and press conference in which Herenton repeatedly invoked what looks to be the campaign slogan “Keep It Real” in his bid for the Democratic congressional nomination in 2010.

“As everyone knows, we’ve lost many people during the past several years. I’m going to say come home to Memphis,” Lowery said.

The remark is in contrast to one of Herenton’s most cited quotes from his 18-year tenure. When asked about citizens moving out of Memphis for the suburbs, Herenton responded by saying he had no problem with that and adding “goodbye.”

Memphis Mayor Myron Lowery fired City Attorney Elbert Jefferson on his first day in office, apparently during a meeting in a City Hall stairwell.

After taking the oath of office Friday afternoon from U.S. District Court Judge Hardy Mays, Lowery told reporters he had offered Jefferson a severance and a chance to resign the appointed post. Jefferson refused and Lowery met with him in a City Hall stairwell after the swearing in ceremony. Lowery emerged without Jefferson and told reporters he had fired the attorney.

The five member team will be headed by City Council member Bill Boyd who is a former city division director, heading the Public Services division under Mayor Wyeth Chandler. The district two representative assisted in another city political transition in the 1960s. As a city employee, Boyd was part of the transition of city government to the then new City Hall in 1967.

The five member team will be headed by City Council member Bill Boyd who is a former city division director, heading the Public Service division under Mayor Wyeth Chandler. The district two representative assisted in another city political transition in the 1960s. As a city employee, Boyd was part of the transition of city government to the then new City Hall in 1967.

The Memphis City Council reopened the debate Tuesday night over whether to pay more than $426,000 in legal fees incurred by former Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division president and CEO Joseph Lee starting in early 2007.

The Memphis City Council has a chance next week to reconsider its decision not to pay more than $426,000 in legal fees incurred by former Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division president and CEO Joseph Lee.